By Michael McCutcheon
DUBLIN, CA – A sweeping demand letter sent last week to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) detailed significant recent and ongoing abuses at the Federal Correctional Institute at Dublin (FCI Dublin), according to the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP), Centro Legal de la Raza, Rights Behind Bars (RBB) and Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP (RBGG) in “Women Prisoner News.”
According to the statement, “numerous FCI Dublin employees – including the ex-Warden, the prison chaplain, and correctional officers – have subjected dozens of incarcerated people to egregious sexual abuse, including harassment, assault and rape.”
The groups “have urged BOP leadership to release survivors of abuse and retaliation and safeguard them from immigration detention and deportation; institute safe and confidential reporting mechanisms; provide adequate, community-based medical and mental health services; and take numerous other steps to dismantle the system at FCI Dublin that has allowed and incentivized staff sexual misconduct and retaliation against those that dare to report.”
Though, “to date, there have been a handful of prosecutions of individual actors involved in this sexual abuse scheme, but no meaningful efforts have been made to remedy the harms or seriously change the system that facilitated them,” the groups claim.
“At the very least people need medical care and reporting mechanisms that they can access without fear of retaliation…the assaults and harassment are compounded by enforced silence and a culture of fear,” said Diana Block, a member of CCWP’s Coordinating Committee.
“These demands are modest, necessary first steps,” said Amaris Montes, an attorney at RBB, adding, “the truth is that every officer and supervisor is complicit in this ongoing abuse and the BOP allowed all this to happen without consequence. Even more drastic changes are needed to protect our communities.”
The demand letter here, gives BOP officials 14 days to meet with CCWP and its legal team to “negotiate system-wide changes and individual remedies for still incarcerated survivors,” said the statement.
